Welcome to the new neighborhood, we are open with two new birdhouses. Maybe it is the impending storm, but I found myself really wanting to make an upcycled galvanized birdhouses this weekend for some new bird families to move into. Actually, I wanted to use one of our leaking maple buckets to make one and we got on a roll and made two. The second one is made from part of an old chicken feeder. We hung them on the tree right outside of our office window. I am pretty sure this officially makes me old, but I can not wait to see birds here for the first time. I realize, it probably won’t happen until spring, but you just never know. We put up a birdhouse on our porch roof about 6 years ago, and every year a bird family is raised there. I sit in my favorite chair in our living room and watch them without being intrusive to them. As I sat there this afternoon, I realized I can see our new birdhouses from the same spot. My glee really proved how old I have become. They were super easy to make and quick. We used a large attachment to our drill that is a called a hole saw bit to create the opening. Once the hole was open, I used my Dremel tool to smooth out all of the rough edges. Then we used a large drill bit to make a hole just below the opening and added an old maple tap as a perch. I added a little bit of super glue to be sure it holds in place. We used some leftover scrap wood, cut in a circle, as the base. We used a band saw to do it, but it could easily be done with a jigsaw. We tapped it into the opening and used wood screws through pilot holes in the sides to hold it in place. In going with the idea of using what we had, the top is from a garbage can that I had purchased for a planter at the
sugar house. We just used two longer screws right through the top to catch the bucket. Be sure it is not too long that they will stick out inside the birdhouse. The other birdhouse is made from the top section of a chicken feeder. We used all of the same principals but we used a vintage door knob for the perch. We added the can lid on the bottom and caught the wood in the base with two screws to hold it in place. I was hoping it would act as bird bath of sorts, but it is not water tight. We removed the handled which left openings. We may decide to fill it with birdseed at some point. I am reluctant with that because I know it will attract squirrels, and unfortunately, bears. I realize they are hibernating right now, but I would hate to loose track of when they are coming out of their slumber. We used some old chandelier chain that I had saved and “s” hooks to wrap it around some branches. We hung them nice and high to hopefully be attractive to the birds. I had some old twine in the garage when we working on it and I put it inside one of them so that it would be a head start on creating a nest. We put ours together with the type of things we had around, but with a little perspective change it could be fun to figure out other alternatives with what you have around. And so now I wait, but in the meantime, I love how they look - especially with the
sugar house right in the background! Thanks so much for reading!
Welcome to the new neighborhood, we are open with two new birdhouses. Maybe it is the impending storm, but I found myself really wanting to make an upcycled galvanized birdhouses this weekend for some new bird families to move into. Actually, I wanted to use one of our leaking maple buckets to make one and we got on a roll and made two. The second one is made from part of an old chicken feeder. We hung them on the tree right outside of our office window. I am pretty sure this officially makes me old, but I can not wait to see birds here for the first time. I realize, it probably won’t happen until spring, but you just never know. We put up a birdhouse on our porch roof about 6 years ago, and every year a bird family is raised there. I sit in my favorite chair in our living room and watch them without being intrusive to them. As I sat there this afternoon, I realized I can see our new birdhouses from the same spot. My glee really proved how old I have become. They were super easy to make and quick. We used a large attachment to our drill that is a called a hole saw bit to create the opening. Once the hole was open, I used my Dremel tool to smooth out all of the rough edges. Then we used a large drill bit to make a hole just below the opening and added an old maple tap as a perch. I added a little bit of super glue to be sure it holds in place. We used some leftover scrap wood, cut in a circle, as the base. We used a band saw to do it, but it could easily be done with a jigsaw. We tapped it into the opening and used wood screws through pilot holes in the sides to hold it in place. In going with the idea of using what we had, the top is from a garbage can that I had purchased for a planter at the sugar house. We just used two longer screws right through the top to catch the bucket. Be sure it is not too long that they will stick out inside the birdhouse. The other birdhouse is made from the top section of a chicken feeder. We used all of the same principals but we used a vintage door knob for the perch. We added the can lid on the bottom and caught the wood in the base with two screws to hold it in place. I was hoping it would act as bird bath of sorts, but it is not water tight. We removed the handled which left openings. We may decide to fill it with birdseed at some point. I am reluctant with that because I know it will attract squirrels, and unfortunately, bears. I realize they are hibernating right now, but I would hate to loose track of when they are coming out of their slumber. We used some old chandelier chain that I had saved and “s” hooks to wrap it around some branches. We hung them nice and high to hopefully be attractive to the birds. I had some old twine in the garage when we working on it and I put it inside one of them so that it would be a head start on creating a nest. We put ours together with the type of things we had around, but with a little perspective change it could be fun to figure out other alternatives with what you have around. And so now I wait, but in the meantime, I love how they look - especially with the sugar house right in the background! Thanks so much for reading! 